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The Producers: Episode 3

The Producers continues to be one giant meta joke on showbiz, with more cameos that can be counted and mile-a-minute jokes about everything from casting to executives to getting a show off the ground by pure dumb luck.

The mockumentary framing device remains but is scaled back a bit (there’s been talk in the press from producers about making the show less experimental, grumble grumble), but thankfully the sense of humor remains. I really hope Producers sticks to its guns with its initial concept, because the deadpan humor and mockumentary style is what makes it fresh and interesting, and I’d hate to see it lose that flavor.

 
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EPISODE 3: “Pheasant instead of chicken, unintentionally”

Just in case there wasn’t enough meta around here, today’s episode begins in a show within a show: KBS’s morning talk show Hello, hosted by Shin Dong-yup, Lee Young-ja, and Cultwo. Only the guest for their “National Problem Contest” segment (a play on “National Singing Contest”) is our rookie PD Baek Seung-chan.

He awkwardly joins the hosts who introduce him as a variety PD at this very network, and they share his problem: that he doesn’t want to go to work. He tells them about the noona he followed here, and how he discovered that she’s already dating someone in the variety department.

Shin Dong-yup cringes and wonders why he’d want to date a female variety PD at all, and then all their mouths drop when Seung-chan tells them about the other man cheating on his noona with another variety PD.

Seung-chan says that he saw them going into the same apartment after work one night, and Shin Dong-yup says he sent his story to the wrong show (meaning that it belongs on his 19+ cable talk show Witch Hunt). The whole thing is edited like a real segment with a real guest, and it’s cracking me up.

Shin Dong-yup tells Seung-chan that they’ve brought the PDs in question to their studio, and Seung-chan does this hilarious slow double-take as the MCs explain that this is the concept of their show—they bring everyone into the studio to talk out the problem. LOL.

The camera cuts over to Joon-mo and Ye-jin sitting side-by-side in the audience and looking pissed. Joon-mo growls into his microphone: “I told you not to be seen around me, didn’t I?” Ye-jin: “I said let’s kill him.” Seung-chan darts awake in terror—it’s a dream, of course, fueled by the episode of Hello that’s playing on his laptop right now.

His little sister runs in with a gift box and asks him to give it to her (idol) oppa because it’s his birthday tomorrow, and Seung-chan counters humorlessly, “I’m your oppa.” But his reluctance is really about not wanting to step foot inside KBS tomorrow, and he cries in defeat, “I don’t wanna go to work!”

In the morning, Ye-jin comes out to the hallway to collect her milk delivery and finds it empty. She looks around wondering if there’s a milk thief in the building, and two seconds after she goes inside, Seung-chan peers out from around the corner, holding two bottles of milk.

He mutters to himself that this doesn’t seem like just a one-night kind of a thing, and then realizes that he’s on camera with the documentary crew. He mentions cautiously that he said some things that were probably too private, and asks if some of the earlier footage of him could be edited.

Suddenly the documentary PD behind the camera asks what entry class he’s from, pulling rank as a sunbae. He asks Seung-chan if broadcast is a joke, and tells him to shoot and edit the whole thing himself then. Properly chastised, Seung-chan drops it.

Of course, the following interview with him as he’s heading out for work is over-edited for no apparent reason, cut-cut-cut-cut-cut, just to be snarky about his request. See, here, I edited you.

They ask about his day ahead, and Seung-chan talks about having to recast 1 Night 2 Days, and how the writer in charge of casting told him that with their terrible ratings and a week left before broadcast, they can’t waste their time chasing after pheasant—they have to settle for chickens. “I’ll be going to catch chickens now.”

Joon-mo and Ye-jin sit down to breakfast without their milk, and without thinking, Joon-mo hands Ye-jin the jar of jam when he can’t open it. She pops the lid in one go, and he wonders why she isn’t like other girls who can’t open jars or change their own light bulbs and run to oppa to do it for them. Says the guy who couldn’t open the jar just now?

She scowls and says that his girlfriend must snare quite a lot of men with that act, naming the various PDs she’s dated in every department. Joon-mo gets defensive and says that it’s better than not being able to date like Ye-jin, and we get a quick flashback montage of all the times Ye-jin came crying to Joon-mo every time she got her heart broken.

He drank with her, answered his phone in the middle of the night, and carried her home on piggyback with assurances that she’s not someone you get sick of easily, otherwise he wouldn’t have known her for 25 years.

Ye-jin tells him to enjoy his life with the girl who can’t open jars or change light bulbs then, and says that he’s dumb enough to avoid the breakup for so long that he’ll end up at the altar with her. Instead of just telling her that he already broke up with her last night, he yells at Ye-jin to focus on her own problems like how she’s homeless and squatting here.

He tells her not to stick her nose into other people’s private lives, and she balks at his word choice, making her feel like a stranger.

Joon-mo is accosted on the front steps of KBS by that reporter who seems to know everything before he does. Speculation is already running wild about the new cast of 1N2D, and it’s pretty funny to watch how the typical casting storm is brewed.

The reporter guesses that he’s going after Shin Dong-yup and Yoo Hee-yeol, fishing for confirmation. When Joon-mo challenges him to go ahead and write it, the reporter decides that they must’ve rejected the offer, and threatens to go with that headline unless Joon-mo gives him the exclusive.

Even funnier is the fact that the reporter was right, and the docu team goes around interviewing all the potential cast members. Yoo Hee-yeol doesn’t want to be with Yoon Jong-shin; Shin Dong-yup wants to do it if they can get Jeon Hyun-moo; Jeon Hyun-moo has too many shows but will do it if they can pay enough; Shin Dong-yup hears that they can’t match his base salary and says no immediately; Yoo Hee-yeol hears that and quits too, and so on and so forth.

Joon-mo sighs in his staff meeting to hear the results and insists that you have to approach casting like dating, with a little push and pull. They tell Joon-mo to do it himself then, since he’s so good at dating, and Seung-chan fires a death glare at him.

That catches Joon-mo’s attention so he tells the newbie to throw out his genius ideas, and Seung-chan is oblivious to the fact that they’re teasing him. He tells them about how he’s been mapping out the history of KBS variety shows, and busts out a graph to explain his 7-year popularity cycle theory that goes back decades.

It’s an explosion of geekery, and he ends with the conclusion that if they did a matchmaking show concept, it would be popular… in 2016. After a long beat, Joon-mo only says one thing: “Did you go to Seoul University?” Seung-chan: “Yes…” Hahaha, how does Joon-mo turn Seoul U into the butt of a joke?

Outside the apartment complex, Ye-jin gets stopped at the trash bin by Seung-chan’s mom, who refuses to let her throw eggshells away in the food trash. She actually stands there and holds the lid closed, and tsk-tsks that a woman should really be able to run a household properly.

Ye-jin takes offense and asks why men don’t have to do the same, and when Dad shows up she dumps the trash and makes a break for it. Ye-jin’s words seem to have an effect on Mom though, and she argues with Dad about having to give up her career just to take care of him when he never amounted to much and she’s smarter, demonstrating by pray-yelling in Hebrew.

Ye-jin grouses at all the couples crowding the streets of Yeouido, here to see the cherry blossoms and making her commute longer. She decides that they should all be uprooted, but then her thoughts drift back to all the times she had wanted to see the cherry blossoms with Joon-mo, and how he always said, “Next year! Next year! They’re there every year! Did we not go last year?” while slumped over his desk working on something.

At the office, Ye-jin finds Seung-chan hard at work erasing old tape labels with a whiteout pen, and asks if he needs some help. He says he’s on it and doesn’t need help, but Ye-jin insists that he does, and picks up a tape and slides it in the tape eraser.

Realization dawns on his face as she explains that he was probably tasked with erasing the content on the tapes, not their labels, but adds a patronizing, “You did a good job with that though.” Is there a hole he can crawl into somewhere?

He asks her not to tell Joon-mo about this, and she says that’s probably going to be difficult because it’s too funny. He begs, so she offers a deal—she’ll pay the car repairs back in installments, and hands him 30,000 won (out of 830,000 total). Somehow he ends up thanking her, and she tells him to go buy snacks if he’s grateful, making sure to call it part of his training.

CP Kim tells Joon-mo not to ever have kids, complaining about how much it costs to pay for all of his daughter’s tutors and lessons. Joon-mo jokes that he ought to make her an idol trainee because they pay for all that, and CP Kim seems to actually consider that as an option.

They head up to meet with the director, scoffing at Seung-chan’s stupid matchmaking idea, only to have the director pick that one excitedly. CP Kim offers to take the lead on casting idols for the show, using that as an excuse to talk to all the agents about taking his daughter as a trainee.

Ye-jin finds Joon-mo’s ex-girlfriend crying in the bathroom, and annoyance turns to glee when she finds out about last night’s breakup. She gives her a hug and a pep talk, and Seung-chan freezes in his tracks when he sees them come out of the bathroom together looking super chummy.

He’s more confused than ever about Joon-mo’s love triangle, and he interviews that this isn’t Hollywood and he can’t seem to get used to this kind of liberal attitude, but stops mid-sentence as women walk down the hall dressed for a runway.

Seung-chan presents Ye-jin with her bag of snacks, and she takes him to task for failing to get sausages. He says that she told him to get chips, and she can’t believe he didn’t read between the lines to include sausage.

She tells him that a PD needs to be more sanmai not nimai, and Seung-chan has to go ask a floor director what those words mean. FD Joon-bae tells him that they’re Japanese words, and that nimai means sincere, earnest, unfunny, and sanmai is its opposite—funny, and a little dirty.

CP Kim tells Joon-mo that he got all the idols they need, unaware that all the talent agents are avoiding him like the plague. Joon-mo jumps the gun and calls the reporter to tell him that they got Hani of EXID.

Ye-jin gets squarely ignored by her maknae writer, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that she doesn’t have much authority on her own team. She takes offense at the writer getting packages from Cindy’s fans when she’s the head PD, but the writer points out that Ye-jin is on the outs with Cindy’s fans since her last Music Bank appearance.

Ye-jin pulls out her phone to argue that Cindy’s the one on the outs with the public, pulling up all the negative comments made about her by netizens. Cindy is well aware of the comments herself, and makes her manager oppa read them aloud.

She asks why they aren’t reporting these people, and the manager says these are nothing compared to the stuff in her anti café, and Cindy glares, “Oppa, are you a member of my anti café?” Busted.

Ye-jin finds her car blocked in the parking lot, and after a few attempts to push them out of the way herself, she calls Joon-mo (who doesn’t answer), and soon Seung-chan is pushing cars. He hems and haws before asking where she lives, and Ye-jin names her old neighborhood and her future one, leaving out her current stay in Yeouido.

He follows it up with: “Do you have a boyfriend?” I can’t believe he just asked her that. She asks if he’s trying to set her up with someone, and he says no, he was just wondering if she liked anyone. This is going to get so misconstrued.

Ye-jin thinks for a long moment, and just then cherry blossoms start to shower down on them. They both look up, mesmerized for a spell, and Ye-jin muses that other people come to Yeouido in the spring but she always wants to leave because of the traffic. “But if I had a man I guess I wouldn’t? Because we’d walk together looking at the cherry blossoms.” She whirls around and asks why he wants to know anyway, and he quickly reminds her that she told him to ask her anything. She shoos him away, calling his questions useless.

The 1N2D staff burns the midnight oil, and the team looks on curiously as Joon-mo presents his new cast of six idols, three boys and three girls. They point out that he’s basically doing Seung-chan’s idea after he said it was dumb, and Joon-mo insists he did nothing of the sort.

Joon-mo: “What did I say?” Seung-chan: “You said, ‘Did you go to Seoul U?'” Joon-mo: “See, I was so impressed that I was asking if he went to Seoul U!” Lulz. He manages to say the exact same words with the total opposite intonation.

Ye-jin waits and waits at home, disappointed when her brother walks in instead of Joon-mo. Little bro Ye-joon can tell noona has been sitting by her phone all night, and guesses that she called Joon-mo repeatedly because he didn’t pick up.

He sits her down and tries to say as gingerly as possible that she’s the type of woman that men get sick of easily, and gives her the advice to cool off a little and make men wait, instead of answering texts right away and always being available. She scoffs and calls that game-playing, but Ye-joon says it’s just about giving the other person space, and time to think about you.

Cindy sits alone in her giant apartment and against her better judgment, tries to join one of her anti-fan clubs. Yikes, don’t do that.

Her first attempt at a comment—”Cindy is annoying because she’s too perfect”—gets rejected with an automated message asking if she’s Cindy, so she settles for an actual insult just to gain access.

She gets a text from Seung-chan and smirks knowingly, having expected a come-on of some sort, but is rendered speechless when he actually only texts to remind her to return the umbrella.

The 1N2D team takes another hit when their star cast member Hani gets caught in a drunk altercation and has to spend a night in jail. (And puts on a show for the entire police station from her cell.) She has to be pulled from the program before they even start, and now the other members are ready to pull out if they don’t find a replacement.

Joon-mo asks if they don’t have any celebrities in their back pockets to call on, and one PD suggests (Cha Tae-hyun’s real-life friend) Hong Kyung-min, hur. Joon-mo asks what they’re supposed to do with a married man and a bunch of idols.

Seung-chan pipes up and asks what about Cindy, and everyone humors him by saying she’d be perfect, obviously thinking that she’d never do it in a million years. Joon-mo tells him to go ahead and call her up, and promises to do whatever he wants if he can get Cindy on the cast. Seung-chan nods in excitement, completely missing the sarcasm in the room.

Ye-jin spends all night wondering where Joon-mo is and checking his empty room, and when she gets to work in the morning, she calls Seung-chan over to ask him instead. Hearing that he was at work all night with a crisis lifts her spirits.

Joon-mo meets with the director, who conveys the KBS president’s message that he’d like it if they got someone like Suzy or Cindy instead. Joon-mo just gapes. CP Kim and the director take turns telling Joon-mo about the good ol’ days and their exaggerated casting gets back in their prime, and CP Kim reminds Joon-mo that he was close with JYP once—didn’t he help tape up his see-through pants once?

They encourage him to go try, and then as soon as he leaves, they admit to each other that their stories ended with rejections from Kang Ho-dong and Yoo Jae-suk.

Seung-chan’s dad shoots the breeze with a food stand ajusshi and brags about his PD son, calling it very important work. Two seconds later, Seung-chan shows up at that very stand to buy snacks as ordered by Ye-jin, deflating Dad’s fragile ego. Food stand ajusshi: “So that’s your Seoul University grad prosecutor-turned-PD son?” Wah waah.

Seung-chan gets Cindy on the phone and she’s amazed that he’s this persistent about the damn umbrella. He sighs that she was supposed to return it today, and she tells him that she’ll pay the stupid late fees. Seeing his chance, he says he’ll come get it right now then, and goes running to meet her.

Meanwhile, Joon-mo heads to JYP, where he gets the runaround by an assistant and taken on a tour of the building. He gets put on a conference call with JYP, who’s in Japan, but first he’s subjected to an excruciating promotional video.

Cindy sits down with Seung-chan and agrees to listen to what he has to say, and learns from her manager that it was Joon-mo who bought her the food the other night, not Seung-chan.

She sees the pancakes in Seung-chan’s hand and says she’ll accept them, and he moronically tells her that these belong to someone else, embarrassing her and sticking his foot in his mouth, as usual.

He finally gets around to telling her about 1N2D, and she asks why she should do it when it only benefits them. Seung-chan tells her that he did some studying, and found that many top stars revived images and launched second careers through variety shows, and it seems to work in getting Cindy’s attention.

It’s too bad that they’re interrupted by her agent CEO Byun, who storms in and demands to know who he is and what he’s got in his hands. Seung-chan just blurts, “They’re pancakes and you can’t have any!” He’s like a dog with a bone.

Joon-mo naps through the JYP video and finally gets him on video call. JYP is super eager to pitch his new idols and get them on KBS shows, but then the minute that Joon-mo mentions Suzy, the connection stalls.

JYP’s face freezes while the connection is buffering, and Joon-mo gets distracted when CEO Byun calls to say that his maknae PD is with her. He runs out and asks the assistant to request Suzy for his show, and the second he leaves, JYP stops pretending that his video froze. LOL.

CEO Byun takes Seung-chan to task for suggesting that Cindy lose out on gazillions in concert revenue just to join a variety show, and he admits that he didn’t know the vast money at stake. He starts in on this super sincere speech about how money isn’t everything, and somehow ends up insulting CEO Byun twice over, calling her sanmai and money-hungry. Cindy smirks.

Joon-mo busts in and drags Seung-chan out, and CEO Byun asks if Joon-mo is trying to get revenge or something. He scoffs that he’d have to want to deal with her to get revenge, and yells at Seung-chan for associating with these weirdos.

Cindy is suddenly verrry interested in Joon-mo, and confirms with her manager that he was the one who bought her dinner.

Joon-mo asks Seung-chan what he wants for dinner, yells at him when he says whatever, then shoots down every single choice he makes. But at dinner, Joon-mo pours him a drink (ignoring the fact that he said he can’t drink), and seems to soften a little.

CP Kim and PD Hong-soon come by to join them, and Joon-mo tells them about his call with JYP, complete with hilarious demonstration. Hong-soon mentions the PD swap just in case 1N2D is in the toilet, and CP Kim feeds Seung-chan drinks until he can’t see straight.

Ye-jin walks home alone under the falling cherry blossoms, Joon-mo and Seung-chan get rip-roaring drunk, Hong Kyung-min begs to join 1N2D, and JYP has an actual bad connection when he tries to have a real meeting.

Chapter 3 of CP Kim’s book is on casting, with the sub-header “It’s the beginning of a relationship.”

Seung-chan sneaks away from the dinner table teetering on his feet, and walks home still clutching the bag of pancakes.

Cindy sits at home that night asking people on the internet what it means when a guy uses an umbrella as an excuse to contact you but only seems interested in the umbrella.

And Ye-jin decides to hell with space, and texts Joon-mo to call her back. She lights up when the doorbell rings, thinking it’s him. But when she opens the door, a very drunk Seung-chan is standing there red-faced, holding her pancakes out.

He puts them in her hand and doesn’t let go for a long beat, then collapses on her shoulder and passes out.

 
EPILOGUE

We get two more cameos from Jang Hyuk and Lee Chun-hee as Ye-jin’s ex-boyfriends, who interview that she constantly ditched them for Joon-mo.

She’d be too busy with Joon-mo on the weekends to go out on dates. She wouldn’t go see the cherry blossoms because she promised she’d do it with Joon-mo. Whenever she was drunk, Joon-mo would come to get her.

Chun-hee (as ex Min-chul): “It felt like I was dating a married woman.” Jang Hyuk (as ex Hyun-sung): “I can take one look and see that Tak Ye-jin likes Ra Joon-mo. They seem to be the only two who don’t know.”

 
COMMENTS

I’m partial to this writer’s tendency to pack all her romantic punch into the epilogue—it always feels more bittersweet when delivered that way, usually because it involves one party being kept in the dark about how the other person feels. Or in this instance, that Ye-jin and Joon-mo are the only ones who don’t know that their friendship is more than a friendship, which is all the funnier when it comes from her ex-boyfriends. It seems so obvious when they say it, not that Ye-jin would ever admit it. She does seem more aware of her feelings than Joon-mo, but worse at expressing them. But that’s kind of her constant problem with everything, and I like Ye-jin no matter how prickly she acts, because we always get to see the B-sides where she fails at everything and actually doesn’t wield as much influence as she’d like. She’s all talk and quite bumbling underneath her prideful outer shell, and the more weakness we see, the more I find her lovable and endearing.

She’s actually at her funniest with Seung-chan because he gets to witness more of her false bravado than anyone, and I’m liking their strange bully/mentor/lackey relationship because she confuses him so. I can’t wait to see how this misunderstanding is going to complicate things, if Ye-jin reads his interest as romantic, or if he starts developing real feelings for her. For me the romance is all about the two best friends figuring out that they’re meant to be, but there’s a whole lot of comedy to be mined until we get there.

I really wish that IU were playing Cindy with more oomph, because it’s hard to engage with her scenes in the same way as the others when she seems sleepy and bored, which I’m sure is her take on bitchy starlet—it’s just not coming across as genuine. For her sake (and the drama’s), I hope the character gets to warm up and find a softer side, if for no other reason than to make her more believable as a character. I did like seeing more of her vulnerability when she was looking up her own anti-fans online, so maybe what we need is just more time spent developing her character. I’m sure that when she joins the 1N2D cast—’cause she has to be the accidental pheasant here—it’ll work to make Cindy more likable to us in the way that Seung-chan described variety shows making stars likable in real life. It could be a clever layering of meta, that is if it works.

The biggest laughs still come from Kim Soo-hyun’s awesome deadpan face and the way he does those mockumentary interviews like he’s actually missing an entire set of social cues. The geekiness works so well with his lack of social graces, and I love that he has like a negative ability to read sarcasm, as if over-earnestness can create a sarcasm blind spot. I’ll never tire of him and Joon-mo having entire conversations where they don’t understand each other, because Joon-mo is being snarky and Seung-chan can’t read it, leaving Joon-mo frustrated and Seung-chan perpetually in a pit of single-entendre. Plus, Seung-chan’s petty hate just makes it even better because he’s constantly at war with himself for seeking Joon-mo’s approval while hating his guts, and Joon-mo wants to keep hating him even though the kid keeps doing everything right. In this drama, they just might be the couple to beat. Hell, I’ll forgo all romance as long as they can stay together forever.

 
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Thanks for the recap, GF!!

Too many LOL moments and it all started with Hello Counselor!! Seungchan is too precious in this series and KSH is doing an amazing job!! All my fave scenes are his scenes. XD I love his naive and sincere nature, and so innocent that others' sarcasm is interpreted as genuine praise by him.

The JYP buffering part and the subsequent reenactment by Ro PD was hilarious. Love the various cameos throughout the show, especially the epilogue. Looking forward to the next ep!!

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How awesome is SC using his research and geeky side to thump everyone in the 1N2D’s experienced team? I have a soft spot for dorks and embarrassingly light up like a loony when his scenes are on. I was reading the translated k-netizen comments and amongst the most upvoted comment on article(s) said KSH is the one keeping the drama alive. Spot on! Not really a huge fan of anyone in the cast, but watched I was pulled by the hype. Now I’m staying for KSH’s BSC ~ the kid is too adorkable xD

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Yes. Every time his character says "well, I've been researching and...", I just crack up. Clearly some SNU grads have a reputation for book smarts and lacking common sense just like Ivy Leaguers in the U.S. ?

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haha Seung-chan was holding onto those pancakes as if his life depended on it. It's these subtle bits of humor that make this show so good and I hope that the drama does not stray from it. I laughed out loud when it started with him as a guest on Hello Counselor. Of course a PD for variety shows would dream about being on a variety show where he can vent out his problems. And then there is his obsession with that umbrella (although I somewhat do understand) and his non-confrontational personality (that scene from ep 2 would be me).

JYP's scene. ha I need a clip of that. Perhaps someone will upload it. I am looking forward to the next cameos.

As for Tak Ye-ji...
I know other people don't like her because of how harsh she is. Normally, I would not like a character that rude. I actually don't mind her and may even like her. Perhaps I have Gong Hyo-jin's portrayal to thank for that?

IU still looks sleepy/bored to me too but maybe once her personality starts to warm up, the role will be more natural for her.

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"haha Seung-chan was holding onto those pancakes as if his life depended on it."

hahaha....LOL....! and when CEO Byun asked what he has in his hands, he said, "it's pancakes and you cannot have them." OMG....so funny! I can't forget the look on CEO Byun when she hears Seung Chan's answer... gosh! This writer is sooo good!

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Aww, this show is wonderful! So funny and engaging! And I love the characters so!!

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I like this show. And I like IU's character (and portrayal too). If I had worked as long as her (and milked for money) in that awful company, I'd be bored and sleepy and not work up enthusiasm for anything at all. When it comes to Seung-chan and Joon-mo though, then she shows some interest and I hope little by little Cindy comes out of her shell. I have an idea of what a bitchy starlet should be (like UEE's character in You're Beautiful), but I like this Cindy. She comes off bitchy because she's bored and unenthusiastic when she's not really like that at all.

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Is Seung Chan going to dream about guesting on a different KBS variety show every episode because that would be awesome? Happy Together (Yoo-nim cameo), Gag Concert (poor Brownie stuck in storage), Dream Team (shirtless obstacle course)...

My favorite scene by far is the JYP video conference. I cracked up so hard with the untimely buffering and even harder when we found out it was intentional. I love how Seung Chan's little sister is a Got7 fan.

Kudos to CP Kim for landing not one, not two, but three YG idols (Sandara Park, Kang Seung Yoon, and Kim Ji Soo) for 1N2D. It is once in a blue moon that YG idols do variety. Is Kim Min Jae from Persevere Gu Hae-ra an idol trainee since he was among the idol cast?

While variety shows can make a star overnight, it can also break them just as easily. Plenty of celebrities ruined their images by doing variety shows like Roommate.

Thanks for the recap, girlfriday!

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Me likey this episode! Though I kinda hope they won't focus on hooking up the characters. The slice-of-life story is what makes it distinct. The amount of cameos are no joke, but I'm glad they don't fit them in the same scene with the main characters thus the pace is maintained (but I want CTH-KJK-JH in one scene +GHJ for a Thank You reunion but it seems too much to ask, no?)
Laughed the loudest when FaceTime with JYP always buffers whenever Suzy is mentioned. Also the scene about Hani in the police station. Hope they maintain the comedy.

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I love it! The good thing is I am a fan of 1N2D specially season 3 and I watched most of the KBS variety shows (because they uploaded most of them in youtube and the subs are great). So I enjoy this show more. But I hope the current/real 1N2D members will make a cameo here. That would be awesome.

Question: is Producer is still twice a week or one a week like Orange Marmalade?

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Twice:)

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KSH is seriously killing it. LOL at the scene where he gave JM a dirty look and then two seconds later forced to take it back. His facial expressions are really great. I found it really cute when he went to look for YJ all the way in her house just to give the food. He’s just so nice, but I don’t like the BJY song playing in the background.

SC is too good for YJ, I wish she would stick with JM and SC would have a love line with Cindy. The younger couple is 100x better and more interesting to me.

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I loved that 'stare' scene and how as soon as JM asks him why he's staring, his eyes quickly shifts up. Something so simple and little but effective and real in humor.

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Cha tae hyun!!! Omg him and gong hyo jin are so perf together. Theyre what i mean by not perfect looking but just great at acting. I love love love their chemistry not even romantically but just as friends.

Iu's acting still look convincing to me. Maybe bc i made myself believe that she was supposed to be half alive instead of bitchy.

Im a little worried that the romance part is gonna take too much from the show like how the shipping game sort of ruined a little of r94 for me. I hope they focus more on slice of life maybe not the way misaeng did bc i dont mind a little romance i just dont like that now its kinda hinting gong hyo jin and kim soo hyun could develop into something more hope im just reading too much into it.

My fav this ep wld be when gong hyo jins character told the mother that its also a mans duty to know about taking care of the household! My inner feminist just rejoiced.

All in all i enjoyed this ep more than the first two and thats saying a lot since ive already loved ep 1 and 2 but this ep i just grinned the whole time. Love love produsa hwiting!

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Lol i guess when a drama has all star cast that i remember each actor by real name i dont even bother writing their characters name sorry

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Does anyone else feel like the best friend thing is going to clash with the remake of in time with you?

Not really a fan of iu but I like Cindy so far.

Looking forward to Cindy and seung chan relationship starting. Both so young but one is jaded and one so naive but both so easily hurt.

I'm looking forward to both relationship playing out.

I wonder if Suzy will make a cameo, and get Woo young and teachyeon as well. It'll be dream high alternate universe.

And eunjung! Please bring in eunjung.

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with how eunjung's 'popularity' now in Korea... unlikely :(

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GAHH love this show ! haha .. kudos to the team ! and more over i pretty much watch almost all variety in SK so i could relate and understand the meta and all loll .

i think that the 4 main are all nailing it for em ! while everyone might hate ye jin's character and all , i think i enjoy ittt ! it just give a fresh feeling to the show .. i even wonder how could i like that sort of character.. but , i .. just .. did ! HAHAHA

hope they will be forever keeping this pace , and not getting ruined/ slowered to the ends plss ! and turns out that the change of director as shown on the news doesn't affect the show that much ! <3

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I prefer the males' personal journeys in this drama to the females. Ye-jin's character is going down the route of the typical female lead we see in movies and dramas, and IU is simply not doing it for me as Cindy.

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Hi Dramabeans family,

this is my first time commenting here, even if I am somewhat a frequent visitor. I rarely watch K-drama but my friends like it thus am lurking around here to at least keep up with what they are talking about. I can't seem to finish any K-drama tho haha. It's kind of formulaic and takes to long for the story to moves on. Just not my taste.

Par contre, I am a vivid fans of Korean reality show. A friend told me about this drama. I think somewhat this would be my first finished drama if the concept still continues.

You let out some references tho. Thank you for wonderful recap.

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I am really getting :( about the lack of screentime for Cindy because she is definitely my favourite right along with Seung-chan now. She definitely toned down the tiredness, maybe because of all the criticism (which was an aspect that I loved though), and this episode I genuinely had no complaints with her acting. Every scene of hers was golden and I think "sleepy/bored" is an odd criticism for this particular episode (unlike the last two), because she just came off as extremely vulnerable to me. And as usual, it's when she's alone- joining her own anti-fan club, asking strangers on the internet what it means if a guy you thought was hitting on you is just interested in the umbrella he lent you. That was so endearing for some reason, because she was so anxious about the replies, and because it's such a young, teenage-girl thing to do, but she's twenty three, which makes it all the more clear how much she lost out on because of her idol life. And the Cindy/BSC dynamic is amazing because she's so jaded and used to thinking of people as predictable, that BSC completely throws her off, which is why she's the most animated in his presence. The scene with the pancakes was the first time we've seen her not be cool and collected in front of other people, unlike when TYJ was arguing with her about her dress. I think the expectations of Cindy are just misplaced, she doesn't have that oomph because inside she's an awkward, isolated young girl who hasn't been able to form any real relationships because of her career, so her sexy is limited to clothes, and she doesn't know how to do affection at all. And I think IU is perfect in this, even over other better actor-idols because I think she has a natural vulnerability (and awkwardness) and so she manages to get that across in just seconds of screentime. Eun-ji, for instance I can see much more easily in the TYJ role than as Cindy, or rather if Eun-ji were playing her, the interpretation of the character would be competely different and we'd get a much more fun character ala Song-yi, and a lot more snark and fire, but it's the Cindy that we are getting that I adore so I have no issues. I am really hoping she falls for BSC, so we get a lot more of her unable to react to him and his general 4D-ness, heh.

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"Cindy are just misplaced, she doesn’t have that oomph because inside she’s an awkward, isolated young girl who hasn’t been able to form any real relationships because of her career, so her sexy is limited to clothes, and she doesn’t know how to do affection at all." ----> VERY WELL SAID!!! *slow clap*

THAT'S WHY CINDY NEEDS SEUNG CHAN IN HER LIFE. <3 I HOPE PARK JI EUN IS AWARE OF WHAT SHE'S REALLY WRITING:)

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I hope so too!! I know that the initial shipping was based on wanting KSH/GHJ or KSH/IU together, and most of it still is, but now, I really want BSC/Cindy together, because of the characters they are, rather than the actors. So much potential!

In fact, I was really surprised when Cindy didn't immediately think "ah, so that is why you lent me your umbrella" when Seung-chan came to her with the 1N2D offer since she's been waiting for the catch in the gesture, and it would be natural for her to think that that was it. It's kind of adorable that now she herself doesn't want to believe that he's only using her, even though it's in her nature to be wary of unexpected kindness.

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Incredible. I love your writing about Cindy. So on point every single time. :)

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Haha, thank you! Even though largely played for amusement, it was heartbreaking to see her try so hard to figure out what was the "price" she'd have to pay for even such a small kindness as someone lending her an umbrella. That really speaks volumes about her life. She's so obsessive about it because to have something not ask her for something in return, not "use" her, in her own language, is foreign to her. I wish she'd get equal time as the other three, her scenes are my favourites!

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Agree everything you said about Cindy! I like IU acting as well...

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The show is getting interesting now that lovelines are taking into play.

Ra Joon Mo & Tak Ye Jin's relationship is really more than friendship. The writer won't write scenes like the epilogue unexpected-stamp-kiss, she won't also spend time writing cherry blossoms flashbacks or show their 1989 kiddie versions and even Tak Ye Jin's ex-boyfriends' reaction to her relationship with Joon Mo for nothing. If they're not endgame, then what a waste, right? (Those scenes took a lot of minutes too!)

As Jang Hyuk said “I can take one look and see that Tak Ye-jin likes Ra Joon-mo. They seem to be the only two who don’t know."

So, maybe... Baek Seung Chan will also have some appeal to her but it's not going to be more than that. It's hard for to imagine Ye Jin & Joon Mo not ending up together. It'll be difficult for us to not root for Joon Mo unless the writer messes up and write his character as someone who's heartless BUT HEY, HE'S NOT.

As for Cindy & Baek Seung Chan, their love story is also interesting. These two aren't exactly looking for love but maybe they'll find it an unexpected place:) Love can change Cindy and Seung Chan may also end up realizing in the end that not all girls likes his senior, hehehe. Maybe this time, he'll finally have a girl who likes him for who he is.

I hope they won't confuse us but I'm sure they'll do. It just that we only have 8 episodes left and we just want their relationships, may it be love, friends or family to develop in a satisfying way.

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Really love this show. CTH and KSH are just gold!

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i just keep coming here because i cannot wait for tonight episode...yahh.. time please fly faster!!

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Wish I watched the show before reading the recap,that way I would be surprised by JYP buffer scene but it was still too funny.
Don't get the IU complaints,she's doing an awesome job and no I'm not biased,I don't know any song of hers but the person who is really making this show is Kim soo Hyun,his facial expressions are the best.
Joon kookie's acting is akward ish but he is really doing great for a first timer.
Don't really care for the love line,I'm just glad I saw Jang Hyuk.

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Really appreciate this recap and all the ones she's done, you never miss out on details or skim over or assume something is an important. Kamsaminida

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I'm so thrilled!!!

The dragon brothers were in the same freakin episode...Tae Hyun, Jong Kook, Kyung Min and even Jang Hyuk was here!!!

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i don't understand all this hate toward ye jin. she's my favorite character by far, for all the reasons that girlfriday mentions in her recap- like how, despite her "meanness" and strong front, she's undermined consistently ex. the maknae writer disrespecting her, and she realizes this too, and tries to cover it up. i love how gong hyo jin is playing her.
i think it's obvious how the romantic relationships are going to play out in the end, but i personally think it'd be quite cute if cindy had a crush on sc, who develops a puppy crush on ye jin^^

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also, even though i personally love ye jin's character and don't at all find her "unlikable":

"i firmly believe that characters do not have to be likable in order to be good characters. obviously, right? the golden of age of tv is defined by the flawed antiheroes who lead its dark dramas. “unlikable” has become a rather meaningless word in criticism. worse, it has become gendered. flawed women on tv are “unlikable,” and flawed men are antiheroes."
- Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

i hate when people shit on female characters for being too "mean" or "selfish" and thus "unlikable". i love it actually, when they're "flawed" and not pure and virginal, a mere foil to the egotistic male lead whose heart eventually softens and changes his way because of true love, etc.

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I don't want to put words in your mouth but you sound like you assume a female character needs to be either a. mean, selfish and unlikable or b. pure, virginal, a mere foil to male leads.

A female lead can be sassy and egoistic like Song Yi in MLFTS or courageous and sweet like Cho Rim in TGWSS. She can be bad ass like Kang Ja in Angry Mom or fierce-yet-sweet like Young Shin in Healer. The point is a female lead can very easily have a perfectly likeable and relatable personality without being a Candy. So the excuse that Ye Jin's selfishness is basically a flaw and therefore is so much better than the nicer female leads is something I completely disagree with.

A majority of people hate on male leads for being egoistic jerks yet whenever a female lead is acting the same, we revert to calling it "flawed"? Ye Jin's disgusting behaviour towards a co-worker who is not only much younger than her but one who also looks up to her as a teacher is just unacceptable. Saying she's flawed it completely ignoring how terrible of a personality she possess.

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no, i was trying to say that it's always either/or. like, if a female character strays even the least bit from being "nice," than she's immediately deemed "unlikable".
male leads who are egoistic jerks get away with a lot more than female characters who aren't "nice". and i'm not just talking about korean dramas.
disgusting? terrible personality? how? where's that coming from?

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- if a female character strays even the least bit from being “nice,” than she’s immediately deemed “unlikable”.

If that were the case, Cheon Song Yi would not be amongst the most loved female leads of all time. So what if we get more jerky male leads over female ones? Does that make it any right for female ones to be defended just because they are scarce? That logic makes no sense what so ever.

-disgusting? terrible personality? how? where’s that coming from?

Ok, I guess I'll have to spell it out.
a. She banged Seung Chan's car and owed him money. But instead of talking it out like an adult would, she played him into believing she was nice and caring only to backstab him moments later when she realized she's still have to pay.
b. She is his senior at work but instead of helping out a young rookie, she's out for blood (i.e. trying to get him kicked out of the station) because she is forced to open her wallet for her own fault.
c. She "pays" him back in instalments only to have the guy running around the area buying her snacks with said money. She screams at him for not getting what she wants and then sends him in endless loops just because she can.
d. She ridiculously rude even when Seung Chan tries his best to please her. He didn't need to push the car in front of hers, but she asked him to and he did so. He even asked if her wrist was ok but instead of giving a simple thank you, she brushes him off like a fly.
e. She accuses Joon Mo of being unable to confront others but it is her that constantly runs away from her own problems because her whale-sized ego comes in the way.

So... disgusting = unable to have empathy for a young rookie and instead abusing her authority to play around with him. Terrible personality = non confrontational and in an aggressive, defensive way.

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I think we're just used to seeing the female lead stay the course as far as personality goes and it's usually the male lead who has a big change in personality. How many dramas have we seen where the male lead starts off as a complete jerk but become likable as the drama goes on. We're just not used to female leads doing the same thing.

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What a fun episode. Love how we are slowly learning more about the characters. BSC is by far my favorite. KSH is doing such an amazing job as the earnest, innocent, socially clueless PD rookie.

I don't know anything about Korean variety show but can follow the storyline. Thanks everyone for explaining the show behind BSC's dream. I really enjoyed that segment. Also love the scene of the girl idol that was arrested and seeing her dancing in the jail cell. LOL.

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I think Producer beat The Time I've Loved You, 7000 Days to the punch (and doing a wonderful job) about two longtime friends discovering that they love each other. Even the years is longer. In Producer, it's 25 years and TTILY is 20 years.

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